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Sep 13, 2018

Pussy Riot says activist hospitalised, 'poisoned'

An activist from Russian protest group Pussy Riot who staged a pitch
invasion during the 2018 football World Cup final in Moscow has been
hospitalised with suspected poisoning, members of the punk collective
said Thursday.

Pyotr Verzilov was admitted to hospital following a court hearing on
Tuesday, his girlfriend Veronika Nikulshina, also a Pussy Riot member,
told local media.

"His eyesight was going... First we dismissed it as fatigue but then it
got worse and he lost the power of speech," Nikulshina told Ekho Moskvy
radio. "He didn't recognise me anymore, he didn't react to requests.

She added, pending the results of medical tests: "I am not ruling out
the possibility that it could be connected to outside interference."

Verzilov was transferred on Thursday afternoon to Moscow's Sklifosovsky
trauma hospital which has an intensive care unit for poisoning cases. A
phone operator at the hospital confirmed to AFP he was in the unit in a
"serious condition".

Nikulshina said her partner, who is also works at the independent news site Mediazona, had not taken drugs.

Mediazona focuses on the Russian prison system.

Nikulshina and Verzilov served 15-day jail sentences with two other
Pussy Riot members for running onto the pitch during the July 15 World
Cup final in a protest they said was aimed at highlighting abuses by
Russian police.

He was present in court on Tuesday when two other Pussy Riot members,
including Nikulshina, were sentenced on charges of disobeying a police
officer, Russian media reported.

Nikulshina received a sentence of two days in jail but was released on time served.

"Our friend, brother, comrade Petr (Pyotr) Verzilov is in reanimation
(intensive care). His life is in danger. We think that he was poisoned,"
Pussy Riot wrote on its official Twitter account with a link to an
article about the hospitalisation.

Pussy Riot drew international attention in 2012 when it staged a protest
in a Moscow church. Two members served jail terms, while another was
given a suspended sentence. https://www.geezgo.com/sps/39026